How Microsoft and Oracle set aside their past garbage to connect in the cloud

SAN FRANCISCO — Microsoft’s cloud computing deal with Oracle was some two years in the making — going from careful negotiations over just the terms of the meetings themselves to a more open and fluid relationship between executives at the two longtime rivals.

Windows Azure GM Steven Martin

“When it comes to working together on cloud, it was actually pretty easy,” said Steven Martin, the Windows Azure general manager who drove the deal for Microsoft. “We said, ‘We want to work together in a way that works for you, that works for our customers, and works for us. We’re not looking to do anything to try to … ”

“… change your dynamics, or pick through your trash,” continued Martin. “It’s just not like that. Customers want and expect to run Oracle workloads in the cloud. We’d sure like to help make that happen.”

Who made the first overture? Oracle or Microsoft?

“I would say it was joint,” said Martin. “We’ve been working back and forth for a long time as (Oracle CEO Larry Ellison) has considered different options for how they approach cloud.”

Martin said he had been working on the partnership for the last two years, but seriously for the last year, and most intensively over the past six months.

How do the Oracle and Microsoft cultures fit together?

“Better than you might think,” said Martin. “When we’re able to go back and talk about things in terms of first principles, we want customers to have a great experience.

“When customers are running an Oracle workload in a Windows Server environment, or running it in Azure, we expect that to be a good experience for them. That means licensing, that means pricing, that means customer support. Let’s just do this right. There’s no point in attempting to hold the ocean back with a broom. The world is going to cloud. Let’s do this together and be smart about it.”

It also may have helped that Martin himself has deep connections to Silicon Valley, as a veteran of companies including Netscape who spent time working on Linux and contributed to other open-source projects. He’s an example of Microsoft’s broadening of its own leadership in recent years.

The deal between Microsoft and Oracle, announced earlier this week, will let corporate customers run Oracle software on Microsoft’s Windows Azure cloud computing platform and Hyper-V virtualization technology.

It also officially brings the Java programming language to Azure. The companies say they will “work together to add properly licensed, and fully supported Java into Windows Azure – improving flexibility and choice for millions of Java developers and their applications.”

Microsoft’s Martin made the comments during a wide-ranging, behind-the-scenes interview about Windows Azure at the company’s Build conference in San Francisco yesterday. Microsoft is trying to compete more effectively with Amazon Web Services in the market for cloud computing.

On stage earlier in the day, the company had brought out Aaron Levie, the CEO of file-storage company Box, a Microsoft competitor, to promote the upcoming ability for Windows Azure to connect to a variety of online services for single sign-on inside companies.

“It’s really exciting to see an all-new Microsoft,” Levie said on stage.

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Comments

Guest

After initially struggling, the Azure team really seems to be on track lately. There’s no guarantee they’ll succeed given how late to the game MS is. But they’re playing the hand they hold about as well as it can be played. They’re shipping often, communicating regularly, doing the unexpected and pleasing customers. Nice to see. It gives me some confidence that maybe MS can reinvent itself in a world they no longer dominate. And it’s a model other parts of the company could learn from, particularly the WP team who is almost the exact opposite on all measures. The exception there being BenthePCguy on the marketing side, who is exceptional.

Agosto Nuñez

Microsoft’s Windows Azure has been booking abroad way more than Amazon, actually outside of America, Canada, the U.K., Australia and New Zealand Amazon.com isn’t even ”a major player” among many sites and services, the Kindle Fire is a joke here, if you’d ask any profession what Cloud they’re using, they would most likely answer ”Windows Azure”.

Guest

Last I checked, Azure was over in Server and Tools, which has been the quiet success in the company. Here’s hoping the reorg doesn’t kill that golden goose.

Agosto Nuñez

Microsoft is the champion of security and Oracle (especially with Java) is the champion in vulnarability, Microsoft must put their best workers on the ”garbage” (¿no pun… um… intended?… ehh) and help both platforms increase the overall security of the Internet, it would benefit us users the most.

TammyEll

d given how late to the game MS is. But they’re playing the hand they hold about as well as it can be played. They’re shipping often, communicating regularly, doing the